36th Annual David W. Belin Lecture

The 36th Annual David W. Belin Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Ayala Fader on
Thursday, March 26, 2026. Food will be served at the pre-lecture reception,
and Fader will sign books after the lecture. This free, public lecture will
take place in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union on Thursday, March 26,
2026. Please RSVP at (https://myumi.ch/15PN8) to let
us know if you plan to attend.

Over the past decade, frum (Orthodox) Jewish women wellness influencers on
social media have become a significant presence. Despite attempts by some
rabbis to silence them, frum influencers in the United States and Israel
continue to share intimate details of their everyday lives online, earning a
living through the promotion of products linked to their platforms. Professor
Fader’s talk examines the seemingly contradictory worlds these influencers
navigate: while claiming new forms of gendered authority, they simultaneously
reinforce traditional Jewish family structures and gender roles.
Drawing inspiration from conservative Christian wellness influencers, frum
influencers create content that asserts Jewish exceptionalism while fostering
unexpected exchanges with conservative Christian women. The lecture will
consider whether frum social media influencers are subtly promoting illiberal
politics through the gendered language of wellness.

**Ayala Fader **is professor of anthropology at Fordham University. She is
the author of the award-winning books, _Mitzvah Girls: Bringing Up the Next
Generation of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn_ (Princeton University Press, 2009)
and _Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age_ (Princeton University
Press, 2020). Her research has been supported by the National Science
Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Fader’s current book
project examines the trend of American Orthodox Jews aligning themselves with
a new form of religion on the Christian Right—a public, political, racialized,
and biblical philosophy, redefining postwar Judeo-Christianity in the
contemporary political landscape. As the founding director of Fordham’s Center
for Public Anthropology, Fader is currently collaborating on the Demystifying
Language Project, which makes linguistic anthropology a social justice
resource for public high schools. Fader received her Ph.D. from New York
University

** _About the Belin Lecture_**
Since 1991, the Frankel Center has hosted an accomplished speaker to present
the David W. Belin lecture in American Jewish Affairs. Following the annual
lecture, each speaker provides a text version of their talk. This essay is
then published in print format and is made available
(https://www.fulcrum.org/belin?locale=en)**.** To request a
specific year’s lecture book, please email JudaicStudies@umich.edu.

Organized by: U-M Frankel Center for Judaic Studies

View event on Jlive: https://jlive.app/events/13395